On Monday (June 28), a vacation Bench of Delhi High Court refused to grant interim relief to Quint from action by the Centre over non-compliance to the newly amended IT Rules, 2021.
As per reports, the application was heard by a 2-Judge Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and C Hari Shankar. The Court noted that the matter was pending before the regular division bench and that it had earlier not granted any stay on the Centre’s notice. The Delhi High Court however re-notified Quint’s application before the regular division bench.
The vacation bench ruled, “The matter is pending before the regular division bench, no stay was granted. They are only implementing the notification on which there is no stay. There is no question of interim relief.”
Justice C Hari Shankar remarked, “Let me make it very clear. All they are doing is implementing the notification. You have only made out the case that they should not have taken coercive action. It is not your case that the implementation is against the Rules.”
News-media portals move Court against IT Rules
It must be mentioned that petitions were earlier filed by The Quint, The Wire, The News Minute, and the Foundation for Independent Journalism wherein they challenged the constitutional validity of the Information Technology (Guidelines For Intermediaries And Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. They claimed that the parent IT Act did not cover digital media and that the executive rules to regulate online media portals were invalid.
The petition read, “The regulations are frontally offensive to Article 19(1)(a) and Article 14. A restriction on the Fundamental Right to free speech and expression can only be to the extent strictly necessary for the stated interests in Article 19(2). Digital news portals such as the Quint, published by the Petitioners, are already subject to all the civil and criminal laws enacted for those interests. Therefore, the IT Rules, 2021 cannot be in the interest of Article 19(2). They are only meant to be a ruse for the State to enter and directly control the content of digital news portals.”
Government announced new guidelines for social media and OTT platforms
Amid the growing demand for controlling content on OTT platforms and social media, the government of India came up with guidelines for both of them in February this year. On February 25, the Union government announced its new guidelines for digital news organisations, social media platforms, and OTT platforms. According to the guidelines, the social media platforms will have to inform the users that they can’t publish content belonging to others, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another’s privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, libellous, racially or ethnically objectionable.
Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD) leader and DSGMC President Manjinder Singh Sirsa has taken to Twitter to inform that he spoke to Home Minister Amit Shah who has assured the safety of minority Sikh girls in Jammu and Kashmir.
•@AmitShah Ji has assured us about the safety of minority Sikh girls in the valley & that the girls would be soon returned to their families. He has given time to meet Jammu& Kashmir Sikh delegation soon to discuss the ground issues and address the minority’s concerns@ANIhttps://t.co/zlf9pwVoSKpic.twitter.com/GqSFUDYqBA
“Home Minister Amit Shah has assured us about the safety of minority Sikh girls in the Valley and that the girls would be soon returned to their families”, claimed the SAD leader adding that the Union Minister has told him that he has been in touch with the Jammu and Kashmir Governor since yesterday and monitoring the entire situation.
“He has assured us that stringent action will be taken. Nobody will be spared. Our Sikh delegation will meet him in Delhi,” Sirsa added.
The Shiromani Akali Dal leader also said that Amit Shah assured him that he would be meeting Jammu and Kashmir Sikh delegation soon to discuss the minority community’s concerns in the valley.
Two Sikh girls abducted and converted to Islam in Kashmir
OpIndia had reported how on June 26th, a case of alleged forced conversion came to light from Jammu & Kashmir. As per reports, an 18-year-old Sikh Girl from Badgam district was lured and forcefully converted to Islam at gunpoint. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had also raised the issue on social media platforms urging the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to intervene.
Another case is of a girl from Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar who attended function of her Muslim friend. As per reports, she was married off to a boy who attended the function. While the girl was not a minor, she is still missing.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa who once mocked anti-conversion law, wants it to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir
According to reports, after the news surfaced about two Sikh girls being allegedly kidnapped and then forcefully converted, thus falling victim to ‘grooming jihad’, protests broke out in Kashmir.
Leading the protests was SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who had in a series of Tweets requested local political leaders of Kashmir including Mufti to come out in support of the Sikh community. He reportedly demanded the return of favour from Kashmiri leaders for extending support during the anti-CAA protests.
For the unversed, the then BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal had opposed the CAA which fast-tracked Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities, including Sikhs, from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Interestingly, Sirsa, who had allegedly mocked the anti-conversion law when it was introduced by the Yogi Adityanath government, has now cited the example of Uttar Pradesh and made a demand for an anti-forced religious conversion law to be passed in Jammu and Kashmir to save Sikh women from forced religious conversions.
On June 26, a case of abduction and religious conversion of two Sikh girls came to light from Jammu & Kashmir. As per reports, an 18-year-old Sikh Girl from Badgam district was lured and converted to Islam. Another case was of a girl from Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar, attended function of her Muslim friend, from where she was reportedly kidnapped and married off to a boy who attended the function. While the girl was not a minor, she is still missing.
The reports of abduction and conversion of two Sikh girls to Islam stirred a massive online furore, with scandalised people demanding action against the culprits. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) also raised the issue on social media platforms urging the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to intervene.
According to Sardar Santpal Singh, President Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee-Budgam, who narrated the whole incident, one of the two girls was mentally unstable. A Muslim man lured her on the pretext of love and marriage to convert her. He said, “A girl from Sikh community has been forcefully converted to Islam. She is not mentally stable. The man lured her on the pretext of love. It is not a love affair but a clear case of Love Jihad. The government is acting negatively against us.”
He further added that despite written assurance by the SP who was handling the case that she would be handed over back to the Sikh family, the court orders came against them. He said, “The police inspector had assured in writing that the girl would be handed over to them after presenting her in the Court. However, the judge gave the judgement in favour of the Muslim man and handed over the girl to him.”
Not only this, the family of the girl was not allowed in the court. The family and the relatives of the girl were sitting outside the court as they were barred from attending the court proceedings on account of COVID regulations.
Akali Dal’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “Urging J&K LG to address this issue of Srinagar. A Sikh girl (mentally disturbed) has been given to the family of a Muslim guy by the Court. The family of the girl wasn’t even allowed to attend the Court’s proceedings while the boy’s whole family was inside the Court.”
Sirsa, who had earlier mocked Hinduism as “weak religion” for legislating anti-conversion laws, demanded the same laws to be implemented to save Sikh women from forced religious conversion. In a series of tweets, Sirsa demanded the Home Minister of the country, Amit Shah, to pass a strict anti-conversion law on the lines of that passed in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to stop the forced conversion of Sikh women into Islam.
Social media users play down abduction and conversion of Sikh girls, lest it helps “Sanghi ecosystem”
While there was a general demand on social media platforms to institute tough laws to stop such abductions and forced conversions, there were some Twitter users, who were more concerned with preserving the imaginary construct of “Sikh-Muslim unity” instead of having stern laws to stop the rampant kidnapping and conversion of non-Muslims to Islam.
One such individual Amaan Bali, took to Twitter to undermine the demand for action against the culprits and prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Instead of bringing the accused to the books, Bali was concerned with the ‘Sanghi Ecosystem’ taking advantage of the incident. He warned young Sikhs to not cross over to the “saffron side” and claimed that there has been “solidarity on ground by Muslims in Srinagar which might not be reflected in the hijacked narrative that Sanghi ecosystem wants to portray”.
Amaan Bali’s tweet
In essence, Bali was suggesting Sikhs to curb their outrage and refrain from expressing their disapproval against the abduction and forced conversion of two Sikh girls to Islam in Kashmir, lest it would undermine the”Sikh-Muslim” political unity.
Similarly, another so-called journalist, Sandeep Singh claimed that the Muslim community needs to step up and resolve the conflict, otherwise Sanghis will turn a minority community against the another community.
Source: Twitter
Singh did not seem concerned with the fact that two Sikh girls, one of whom was reportedly mentally unstable, were abducted and converted to Islam. He was more occupied with the worry that ‘Sanghis’ would use the issue to create discord between two communities.
It must be noted here that in Kashmir, it is the Hindus who are in minority along with Sikhs.
The farce of preserving narrative by keeping silent and turning a blind eye to criminal activities
For such propagandists, salvaging the farce of “Sikh-Muslim” unity is more important than fighting for justice to victims. For them, the occurrence of a horrendous crime such as abduction, possible rape and forced religious conversion is not serious enough to warrant outrage and takes a back seat as they are more bothered about “Sanghi ecosystem” taking ‘advantage’ of the incident. In their bid to save their tenuous narrative of “Sikh-Muslim unity”, they want Sikhs to stoically endure the atrocities and meekly accept their fate, for the fear of helping the “Sanghis”.
These ‘pro-farmer journalists’ want Sikhs to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of their co-religionists, because doing otherwise might help rival political parties. The grooming jihad waged against Sikh minorities in Jammu and Kashmir is a non-issue for them. Instead, the outrage against it is used to demonise Hindus and frighten Sikhs that Hindus might exploit the incident and sow seeds of discord to disrupt the imagined Sikh-Muslim brotherhood.
This practice of keeping silent when the victim is a non-Muslim and the perpetrators Muslims is long devised and implemented by the left-liberal ecosystem. The religion of the victim is an unnecessary detail for them if it is anything other than Islam. Contrarily, when the victim is a Muslim and the accused non-Muslims, the members of left-liberal ecosystem go hammer and tongs to communalise the incident and describe it as hate crime, even when the motive of crime is not religion.
For example, the Junaid Khan incident, when a Muslim teenager was killed by a group of non-Muslim assailants over a spat on a train seat. But the left-liberal cabal bastardised the incident by including the religious angle, alleging that Khan was killed because he was suspected of carrying beef. Later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that the death had happened because of fight between two groups of daily travellers over occupying train seats and not due to “lynching” over suspicion of carrying beef.
In case the victim is a Hindu and assailants Muslims, the left-liberal ‘intellectuals’ take the moral high ground and sermonise others of understanding the nuance and not vilifying the minorities until the facts of the matter are out in public. Take for instance, the dichotomy of left-liberal ecosystem’s stand on Kathua rape and incidents of rapes committed in mosques.
In the Kathua rape case, the left-liberal ecosystem went into overdrive to link the rape of a Muslim minor girl to a Hindu temple, allegedly the place where the girl was raped. However, they conveniently gloss over the numerous incidents of rapes that take place in mosques. This is done to prevent their narrative from falling apart and in doing so, they do not even flinch from shielding Islamists, lest they strengthen the “Sanghi ecosystem”.
The perils of disregarding the voices of propagandists as fringe opinions
In case of two Sikhs girls being abducted and converted to Islam in Kashmir, while one might be inclined to dismiss such attempts by propagandists to demonise Hindus for the atrocities committed by Islamists as individual opinions, limited only to the realm of social media. However, it would be perilously delusional to underestimate that such individual opinions do not have the potency to coalesce into public opinions that later have a bearing on political outcomes.
People are disposed to believe that such individual opinions die their natural death and do not play any role in shaping public opinion that has an effect on the ground. In the last few months, it is amply clear how some Khalistani elements masquerading as ‘farmers’ have used social media websites to mobilise themselves and normalise violence in the name of farmers protests.
The farmers’ protest, which currently plagues the border region of Delhi, was infiltrated by Khalistani elements through the means of social media. Supporters and sympathisers of Khalistan and terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale urged their supporters online to join the protests and back the farmers in their demonstrations against the three farm laws. Under the pretext of carrying out a tractor rally, the farmers ran riot on the streets of Delhi on Republic day this year. Social media websites played a key role in organising and mobilising people for protests that routinely turned violent.
As such, social media websites have played a key role in aggregating and amplifying narratives that later became popular among its supporters. However, every voice making the ‘right sounds’ to further their narrative takes a small step towards normalising and rationalising such conversation.
For instance, initially, gaumutra jibes were simply used to mock and ridicule Hindus online by Hinduphobic elements, who could not provide intellectual and rational argument to counter them. It slowly crept into political narrative, with politicians and bureaucrats using it casually to insult Hindus. And finally, the gaumutra jibes were used by Islamic terrorists, most notably the Pulwama terrorist, who used gaumutra jibes in his video justifying the attack on Indians.
The usage of gaumutra jibes was so dangerously normalised that even after Islamic terrorists started using them, the left-liberal ‘intellectuals’ felt no qualms in continuing its usage against Hindus, and they still use it to mock Hindus to date. It is worth noting that the dehumanisation of Hindus with gaumutra jibes had started mostly through its use on social media websites.
Similarly, the propaganda against Citizenship Amendment Act assumed a disastrous proportions after lies and misinformation were peddled on social media websites. In fact, internet was used as a tool to organise anti-CAA protests that later culminated into a full-fledged anti-Hindu riots in Delhi. People still believe CAA will strip of Indian Muslims of their Indian citizenship while in reality the Act has nothing to do with Indian citizens, Muslims or otherwise. CAA only fast-tracked Indian citizenship of persecuted religious minorities in three neighbouring Islamic countries.
The Sikhs, who protested against CAA, were also protesting against granting of Indian citizenship for their coreligionists in neighbouring countries who are facing unimaginable atrocities only because of their religion.
Therefore, to disregard the “Sanghi propaganda” trope peddled by propagandits as mere random opinions online is fraught with danger. With social media, you can never predict how an opinion that appears seemingly fringe beliefs becomes mainstream in no time. For that reason, it is incredibly important that people take note of how a crime, ostensibly committed by radical Islamists, is being used by Khalistanis to purvey hatred against Hindus and shield the perpetrators.
Just like gaumutra jibes have been normalised by the usual suspects, if Khalistanis are allowed to propagate their propaganda, Grooming Jihad would no longer be treated as a crime against minority Hindu and Sikh women in Jammu and Kashmir.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed western countries saying that school children in a number of these countries are taught that Jesus is bisexual. In an article for Moscow daily Kommersant, he criticised the USA’s claim towards maintaining a ‘rules based international order’ as a ‘neo-colonial policy’ that seeks to establish western culture across the world.
Sergey Lavrov wrote, “Apart from encroaching on international law, the “rules” concept also manifests itself in attempts to encroach on the very human nature. In a number of Western countries, students learn at school that Jesus Christ was bisexual.”
“Attempts by reasonable politicians to shield the younger generation from aggressive LGBT propaganda are met with bellicose protests from the “enlightened Europe.” All world religions, the genetic code of the planet’s key civilisations, are under attack. The United States is at the forefront of state interference in church affairs, openly seeking to drive a wedge into the Orthodox world, whose values are viewed as a powerful spiritual obstacle for the liberal concept of boundless permissiveness,” he added.
It is pertinent to note here that Russia has banned homosexual propaganda aimed at children, for which they have received great criticism from western countries. However, Vladimir Putin maintains that children should be left in peace and allowed to grow up before they can make decisions about themselves without any inhibitions.
Russia against the “Rules Based International Order”
Lavrov said that “the West deliberately shies away from spelling out the rules it purports to follow, just as it refrains from explaining why they are needed.” He argued that the West was attempting its own rules across the world under the guise of a ‘rules based international order’.
He said further, “The beauty of these Western “rules” lies precisely in the fact that they lack any specific content. When someone acts against the will of the West, it immediately responds with a groundless claim that “the rules have been broken” (without bothering to present any evidence) and declares its “right to hold the perpetrators accountable.” The less specific they get, the freer their hand to carry on with the arbitrary practice of employing dirty tactics as a way to pressure competitors.”
Sergey Lavrov stated, “While proclaiming the “right” to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries for the sake of promoting democracy as it understands it, the West instantly loses all interest when we raise the prospect of making international relations more democratic, including renouncing arrogant behaviour and committing to abide by the universally recognised tenets of international law instead of “rules.””
He proceeded to add, “By expanding sanctions and other illegitimate coercive measures against sovereign states, the West promotes totalitarian rule in global affairs, assuming an imperial, neo-colonial stance in its relations with third countries. They are asked to adopt the democratic rule under the model of the Western choosing, and forget about democracy in international affairs, since someone will be deciding everything for them. All that is asked of these third countries is to keep quiet, or face reprisals.”
Lavrov also stated that “clear headed politicians” in Europe and USA are beginning to realise that “the world has more than just one civilisation” and that “there are other ways to govern that may be different from the Western approaches”.
He also highlighted the hypocrisy of the western establishment when it comes to principles of self-determination and democracy. He said, “The rules-based order is the embodiment of double standards. The right to self-determination is recognised as an absolute “rule” whenever it can be used to an advantage. This applies to the Malvinas Islands, or the Falklands, some 12,000 kilometres from Great Britain, to the remote former colonial territories Paris and London retain despite multiple UN resolutions and rulings by the International Court of Justice, as well as Kosovo, which obtained its “independence” in violation of a UN Security Council resolution.”
“However, if self-determination runs counter to the Western geopolitical interests, as it happened when the people of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia, this principle is cast aside, while condemning the free choice made by the people and punishing them with sanctions,” added Lavrov.
The age of multipolarity
The foreign minister of Russia also accused the USA of trying to establish itself as the only decision making center in the world through the NATO and its partnership with the European Union. “The multipolar world is becoming reality. Attempts to ignore this reality by asserting oneself as the only legitimate decision-making centre will hardly bring about solutions to real, rather than farfetched challenges,” he said.
Lavrov added, “This implies an unconditional commitment to abide by the universally accepted norms and principles of international law, including respecting the sovereign equality of states, non-interference in their domestic affairs, peaceful resolution of conflict, and the right to self-determination.”
He also stated, “Taken as a whole, the historical West dominated the world for five hundred years. However, there is no doubt that it now sees that this era is coming to a close, while clinging to the status it used to enjoy, and putting artificial brakes on the objective process consisting in the emergence of a polycentric world. This brought about an attempt to provide a conceptual underpinning to the new vision of multilateralism.”
The Foreign Minister also said that the UN Security Council must be reformed with the inclusion of more Asian, African and Latin American countries to end “the anomaly with the excessive representation of the West in the UN’s main body.”
Reservations against NATO
Sergey Lavrov also express Russia’s reservations against NATO’s expansion eastwards. He wrote, “While reflecting on linguistics, worldview, sentiment, and the way they vary from one nation or culture to another, it is worth recollecting how the West has been justifying NATO’s unreserved eastward expansion towards the Russian border. When we point to the assurances provided to the Soviet Union that this would not happen, we hear that these were merely spoken promises, and there were no documents signed to this effect.”
At another point, he stated, “Neither NATO, nor the EU intend to divert from their policy of subjugating other regions of the world, proclaiming a self-designated global messianic mission. The North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation is seeking to proactively contribute to America’s strategy for the Indo-Pacific Region, clearly targeted at containing China, and undermining ASEAN’s role in its decades-long efforts to build an inclusive cooperation architecture for Asia-Pacific.”
What it means: Russia and China versus the West
Through his words, Sergey Lavrov is essentially repeating points that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been making for quite some time. The arguments against NATO and US imperialism is consistent with the arguments made by Putin in the past.
The essential thing to note here is that there is clear indication of the growing ties between the Russia and China and it appears for certain that the partnership is here to stay. Furthermore, there is a not-so-subtle effort to strengthen their appear among those in the West who are sick and tired of the liberal hegemony and the Woke circus that has erupted.
Russia is positioning itself as a bastion of the traditional world at a time when ‘Woke culture’ in the West is facing severe resistance across the board. The emphasis on protecting children from LGBT propaganda and gender politics has widespread support among people in the West, especially conservatives in the United States.
A calculated effort is being made to cultivate an image of Russia that incites even more disenchantment with the ruling class of western countries, more than what already exists.
A lot of Russia’s grievances are, of course, legitimate. A lot of their criticism of the US sticks because they are true. Under the “rules based international order”, the West, and USA especially, has been funding terrorists in the Middle East and engaging in regime change operations, which have spelled catastrophe for countries such as Syria, Lybia and Iraq.
What is clear is that the West will have to contend with a resurgent Russia and aggressive China while combating with increasing disenchantment of their own populace with the ruling class.
A day after reports surfaced that Indian travellers vaccinated with Covishield might not be eligible for EU’s Green Pass, Adar Poonawala has assured to take up the matter with the highest authorities.
In a tweet on Monday (June 28), Adar Poonawalla informed, “I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U.” He added, “I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.”
I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.
The European Union (EU) had earlier announced that ‘Green Paas’ would be available from July 1 onwards to those individuals, who have been vaccinated with vaccines approved by European Medicines Agency (EMA). These include Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Moderna, Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), and Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca). As per the technical specifications of the Green Pass, it will be limited to the vaccines that have marketing authorisation in the EU.
The Green Pass will help people move freely through the EU Member States, both for work and tourism. It must be mentioned that the Covishield vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India while it has been developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Currently, the EU recognises only the Vaxzervria version of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Indian citizens and residents of poor and middle-income nations have been vaccinated with the Covishield under the COVAX initiative.
Since SII is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, most Indians, along with millions of people across the world have already received or are to receive the SII manufactured vaccine.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has allowed emergency use of Covishield, CoronaVac and Sinopharm under the Emergency Use List. Meanwhile, Iceland will allow entry to people vaccinated with vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the WHO. France has approved the entry of individuals vaccinated with only EMA approved vaccines and not the Indian vaccines.
On June 28, Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, announced relief packages for Covid-affected sectors. The packages include several sectors, including health, tourism, MSME, agriculture, tourism and others.
Reviving tourism
Nirmala Sitharaman announced a special package to revive tourism sectors. Under the scheme, financial support has been extended to more than 11,000 registered tourist guides, travel and tourism stakeholders. The scheme will cover Regional Level Tourist Guides recognised by the Ministry of Tourism, Tourist Guides recognised by the State Governments and Travel and Tourism Stakeholders (TTS) recognised by the Ministry of Tourism.
Tourism revival package (Source: Office of Nirmala Sitharaman)
Free tourist visa to foreign tourists
The government also announced 5 lakh free tourist visas for foreign tourists visiting India till March 31 2022, or till first 5,00,000 visas are issued. The scheme can be availed for one visit to India. A financial implication of Rs.100 crore will be there.
5️⃣Once tourist visa issuance is resumed, first 5 lakh tourist visas to be issued totally free of charge
Will apply till 31 March 2022 or till the first 5 lakh tourist visas get covered, whichever is earlier
Finance Minister announced a Rs 1.1 Lakh Crore Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid affected sectors. Out of the said amount, Rs 50,000 crore have been allotted for the medical sector. The guarantee cover has been expanded to health and medical infrastructure in cities other than eight metropolitan cities. The aim is to improve the medical infrastructure in underserved areas. The government will provide a guarantee cover of 50% for expansion and 75% for new projects.
Another set of 8 items pertaining to growth, exports and employees are also being announced – out of which 6 are totally new – announces Finance Minister @nsitharaman
The guarantee will be proved by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited. A maximum loan of Rs 100 crore will be available under this scheme. The interest rate has been capped at 7.95%. The remaining Rs.60,000 crore has been allotted for the other sectors. The interest rate in such a case has been capped at 8.25%.
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme
The minister announced an additional 1.5 lakh crore for the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme that was launched as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package in May 2020. Sitharaman informed that out of 3 lakh crore earmarked last year, 2.69 crores jas already been dispersed to 1.1 crore units via 12 Public Sector Banks, 25 Private Sector Banks, and 31 Non-banking Financial Companies. While the remaining funds are available for dispersion, the government has earmarked another 1.5 lakh crore for the scheme.
Credit Guarantee Scheme through micro-financing institutes
The government announced Credit Guarantee Scheme to Facilitate Loans to 25 Lakh Persons Through Micro Finance Institutions. Under the scheme, the guarantee will be provided to Scheduled Commercial Banks for loans to new or existing NBFC-MFIs or MFIs for on-lending up to Rs 1.25 lakh to approximately 25 lakh small borrowers. The interest rate has been capped at MCLR+2%, and the tenure for the loan is a maximum of three years.
3️⃣Credit Guarantee Scheme launched to provide loans to small borrowers, via Micro Finance Institutions
The existing borrowers can also take advantage of the scheme in case the defaulter period is up to 89 days. The government will provide a guarantee scheme for funding till March 31, 2022, or till guarantees for an amount of Rs.7,500 crore are Issued.
Extension of Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana
The government also announced the extension of Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana. Under the scheme, the government will continue to contribute a total of 24% of the wages for establishment strength up to 1000 employees till March 31, 2022.
Additional Subsidy for DAP & P&K fertilisers
As announced earlier, the government has allocated Rs. 9,125 crore additional subsidy for DAP and Rs.5,650 crore additional subsidy for NPK based complex fertiliser. Notably, this year the government procured a record 432.48 Lakh MT of wheat in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2021-22.
Extension of Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)
The finance minister revisited the recent announcement made by PM Modi about PMGKAY. The scheme has been extended till November 2020. The total cost of the scheme in 2020-21 was Rs. 133,972 crores. Under the scheme, 5 kg of food grains will be provided free of cost to NBA beneficiaries from May to November 2021.
8️⃣Free food grains (will be provided to the poor from May to November 2021 (as provided last year), under #PradhanMantriGaribKalyanAnnaYojana, as announced earlier
Total financial implication – nearly Rs. 94,000 Crore, making the total cost of PMGKY nearly Rs. 2.28 Lakh Crore pic.twitter.com/UbPECVpmEw
The new scheme announced by the finance minister focuses on short-term emergency preparedness with special emphasis on children and paediatric care/paediatric beds. The amount would be spent in the next one year. It will also include funding for short-term HR augmentation through medical students (interns, residents, final year) and nursing students. The emphasis would be on increasing the availability of ICU beds, oxygen supply at central, district and sub-district level.
The Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested three people accused of forcefully converting and marrying off a 15-year-old girl, a resident of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh. The arrest was made after police found out that the accused Salim along with his father Abdul and brother-in-law Rahman were in Bharuch, Gujarat. The accused originally hail from Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad city.
According to reports, Salim, one of the accused, worked at a canteen run by the victim’s father in Bharuch, Gujarat. He brought the victim to his hometown Firozabad by taking the victim’s father into confidence that he would get his daughter treated for an ailment of hers by an occultist he knew in Firozabad.
After getting the victim to his hometown, Salim, with the help of his father Abdul and brother-in-law Rahman, forcefully converted her to Islam and married her.
Giving details about the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashok Kumar said that after Salim did not return, the girl’s father reached Firozabad and lodged a complaint.
“The accused Salim brought the girl to Firozabad in the name of treatment and changed her Hindu name to a Muslim one. The accused Salim, aged 21 (years) married the minor girl, aged 15 years. The family members of the girl lodged a complaint…,” Ashok Kumar said.
Based on his complaint, police arrested the trio and registered a case against them. Now, the police are making arrangements to send back the victim to her father, added Ashok Kumar.
“The case was registered under relevant IPC sections and as the girl was a minor, the accused were (also) booked under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, besides the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020,” the SSP said. “All three of the accused were presented in court and sent to jail,” he said.
Many states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha have enacted anti-conversion laws.
ISI-funded mass conversion racket busted by Uttar Pradesh ATS
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh ATS busted a mass conversion racket and arrested two men identified as Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jehangir for their involvement in illegal religious conversions. After the arrests, many victims have come up to narrate how they were brainwashed and forced to take up Islam by the accused.
Umar Gautam who is a convert himself revealed that they converted around 250-300 people every year. During the interrogation, Umar also informed that he targeted people from the economically weaker section of the society including women, children, and the disabled. Gautam confessed to having converted around 1,500 children at school for the deaf and mute in Noida after the school management was enticed with promises of employment and money.
Farhan Azmi, son of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, and husband of Bollywood actor Ayesha Takia, took to Twitter on Monday to register his protest against Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev.
Azmi in a tweet shared a clip of Baba Ramdev where he can be seen criticizing the former name of Prayagraj “Allahabad”. Azmi claimed that the show in which Baba Ramdev made objectionable remarks was aired live on two channels.
Calling Baba Ramdev a ‘dhongi’ and threatening legal action, Azmi wrote, “This video should be enough to start an investigation & an immediate FIR/Arrest against Baba Ramdev & the TV channels. Live on June 27. Unless we don’t walk the legal talk these Dhongi Yogis will continue misusing a peaceful platform like Yoga to abuse the Almighty #MultipleFIR”.
This video should be enough to start an investigation & an immediate FIR/Arrest against Baba Ramdev & the TV channels Live on June 27
Unless we don’t walk the legal talk these Dhongi Yogis will continue misusing a peaceful platform like Yoga to abuse the Almighty#MultipleFIR ? pic.twitter.com/alILnh9SHK
Azmi made another Tweet tagging Mumbai police demanding Baba Ramdev’s arrest. “Respected @CPMumbaiPolice Sir, Bringing this video to your notice so you initiate a preliminary inquiry till we lodge an official complaint @MumbaiPolice against miscreants like Baba Ramdev who has blatantly insulted / abused our Lord Almighty, Allah Streamed live on June27,” read his Tweet.
Respected @CPMumbaiPolice Sir, Bringing this video to your notice so you initiate a preliminary inquiry till we lodge an official complaint @MumbaiPolice against miscreants like Baba Ramdev who has blatantly insulted / abused our Lord Almighty, Allah ?
Ironically, just before lodging his protest against Baba Ramdev for criticizing the name of a city, Azmi had accused the Yogi government of forcibly grabbing lands belonging to the minorities for Ayodhya Ram Temple.
Comparing Palestine to Uttar Pradesh, Azmi wrote, “Literally the same model being copy pasted all over India. In U.P. Yogi Govt illegally, forcibly acquiring land belonging to Muslims/Minorities in the name of #RamMandir #Ayodhya #Mathura”
Literally the same model being copy pasted all over India.
— Adab e Hindustan ❤️ ?? (@adabehindustan) June 27, 2021
Farhan Azmi threatened Uddhav Thackeray prior to his Ayodhya visit
In 2020, Azmi had threatened Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray just ahead of his visit to Ayodhya.
Azmi while addressing a conference delivered an anti-Hindu speech where he threatened, “Uddhav Thackeray may treat this as a warning or threat… but if he goes to Ayodhya on March 7, then even I will accompany him. I also invite my father (Abu Azmi), all members of Samajwadi Party and all members of Maha Vikas Aghadi to join us. We will all accompany him but there is a condition… while he will build Ram Mandir I will build the Babri Masjid there.”
A couple of months ago, an elderly Asian woman was attacked brutally in broad daylight near Times Square in New York City. The attacker was carrying a knife. He kicked her to the ground, beat her and stomped on her, and shouted anti-Asian slurs. It is the kind of senseless criminal act that would make anyone very angry. In today’s woke environment, so aware of issues of race and gender, there was no way the public would let this slide. Somebody had to be held accountable.
Somebody was. Two doormen who worked in the building next to the sidewalk, who saw the assault but did nothing, were fired from their jobs. Nice.
But wait a second. Crime is surging in New York City, with shootings up over 86% year on year. In late 2019, New York passed a new state law that opened the prisons and brought thousands of criminals out on the streets. The man who assaulted this elderly Asian woman should never have been walking free. He had been convicted of stabbing his own mother to death back in 2002. So why not hold the Governor of New York accountable for this incident as well as the crime surge in general?
Are you kidding me? That’s not how things are supposed to work anymore. The Governor has power. That’s why the woke movement has nothing to say to him. In fact, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York has been accused of sending Covid patients into nursing homes for the elderly, resulting in thousands of deaths. His aides then admitted to hiding this data from the Federal Government. In addition, the governor has been accused of sexual harassment by at least ten women. Would that be enough for the woke crowd to get him out of office?
Of course not. Governor Andrew Cuomo has power. That’s why he still has a job while those two doormen, likely minimum wage earners, are out on the streets, looking for a new way to feed their families.
As woke culture takes over America and tries to take over the world, pay close attention to who exactly its targets are. In 2010, Joe Biden gave a touching eulogy at the funeral of Senator Robert Byrd, an ex-organizer for the Ku Klux Klan. Sounds like the kind of thing that would get people canceled right away. But Biden isn’t most people. On the other hand, a mid-level TV actor was canceled last month because the internet uncovered that when she was 19 years old in 1999, she had participated in a local pageant that had been started by someone who used to be in the KKK in the late 1800s. They ‘exposed’ her by pulling out the original newspaper article from the year 1878. And to think she almost got away with being such a racist! Thank goodness for the internet vigilantes, right?
The defenders of woke culture argue that this is just accountability culture. Like the anti-colonial movements, the civil rights movements, the old feminist movement or the gay rights movement, they say they are in the business of making the world better. But if they were fighting systemic injustice, wouldn’t they start by challenging the most powerful instead of digging up ten year old tweets of everyday people?
If we want to dig up the past, why not talk about the role of the New York Times in covering up the holocaust? In 1934, the NYT bureau chief in Berlin reported that he had concluded from conducting interviews that the Jews were actually gaining weight in Nazi concentration camps. He was talking about the concentration camp at Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen, where 100,000 people eventually perished. Is the New York Times cancelled yet? Of course not. Because the New York Times is the vehicle for delivering the fatwas of woke culture to the masses.
We know that Vatican City itself was a gift from Mussolini in return for the Pope legitimizing the Fascist regime. Think about all the allegations of child sexual exploitation against the Catholic Church, from all over the world. Think about the role of the Church in suppressing the rights of women and gay people everywhere. Is the Pope cancelled yet? Of course not. Joe Biden is a devout Catholic. When he became President, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal carried articles hoping that the two men, one a religious authority and the other a temporal one, would lead America and the world to light.
This is what makes woke culture different from the social movements of the past. It comes from above and not below. It does not challenge power, rather it is an instrument of power. Its aim is to keep the little people terrified and in line.
Think about how social movements usually come about. A small group of people, who think ahead of their time, identify injustice and begin to agitate for change. In the beginning, they face frustration and ridicule. But they keep at it, trying to spread awareness. The establishment fights back, trying to resist change. Progress is slow but it happens bit by bit. As they say, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
In contrast, does it ever feel like the woke culture is progressing so fast that you can’t keep up? You think you are up to speed, but then you learn suddenly that a word you said today was already banned as of 18:00 hrs yesterday. You thought ‘mother’ was harmless enough until you learned that you should have said ‘birthing parent’ all along.
Unlike with social movements, the establishment is always one step ahead of you. Big Government and Big Academia manufacture and mandate woke culture much faster than you can learn to use it. Big corporations are much more woke than you are. Does it ever surprise you how corporations which squeeze workers and small businesses, corporations that tore up the third world and bought up politicians in the first world, always seem to care more about people’s sentiments than you do?
But, most importantly, does all of this ever wear you down? Sooner or later, you are bound to realize that the safest course is to shut up altogether, for fear of committing any of the million speech crimes and thought crimes out there? The list grows constantly. The internet lynchmobs pick out random people and make examples out of them. The message is in the randomness. If they went after powerful people, you would not have to worry so much, because you know you are just an average Joe. That’s why they go after ordinary folks, average members of the herd. Today it was some middle class guy in a mid level town a thousand miles away. Tomorrow, it might be you. Better shut up.
Unlike with social movements, the establishment does not resist change. Rather, it is the establishment which prescribes the change. In fact, the establishment is the change. War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength. And the establishment is the change. And the year is 1984.
After Gujarat AAP leader Gopal Italia’s old videos insulting Brahmins and Hindu rituals went viral, he was reportedly barred from offering prayers at the Somnath Temple on Monday.
As per reports, Italia was stopped from performing darshan at the Somnath temple by the Brahmin community and Hindu organizations as they were upset by the demeaning remarks made by the leader. Italia visibly upset with the incident had to return without paying obeisance.
Italia accuses BJP goons of attacking him at Somnath Temple
Italia has filed a complaint with the police accusing the BJP of leading an attack on him as he stepped out of the temple. In a statement to the media, he also alleged that an attempt was made to attack him in the temple premises which was unsuccessful. He also claimed that he has the name of the attackers who allegedly are BJP workers.
સોમનાથ મહાદેવ મંદિરના પરિસરમાં @Gopal_Italia પર ભાજપના કાર્યકરો દ્વારા ટોળું વળીને હુમલાનો નિષ્ફળ પ્રયાસ કરવામાં આવ્યો..
— AAP Gujarat । Mission2022 (@AAPGujarat) June 28, 2021
Italia had allegedly apologised to the Hindu and Brahmin communities for hurting their sentiments.
Italia insults Hindu rituals
In an old video that recently went viral on social media, Italia was heard saying, “If you do not like what I have to say then block me and leave because I don’t need you. People are spending a lot of money and time on non-scientific and unnecessary things like Satyanarayan Katha, Bhagwad Katha and other such useless things. Still, people do not know what they’ll gain out of doing this. They waste other people’s time also. If we spend even 5 paisa on such useless things, we do not have a right to live like humans.”
Calling Hindus eunuchs Italia further said, “I am ashamed of such people. It angers me. If you don’t like what I said block me. We don’t need those who clap like hijras in name of rituals and culture. Some Sadhu will speak nonsense from the stage and we have to clap like hijras?”
This is an old video of AAP Gujarat President Gopal Italiya.
In another viral video, Italia mocked devotional Hindu congregations and remarked, “Why are these kathakars doing kathas in Surat only? If you are so big go to border for kathas. Go do kathas at Pakistan border and Bangladesh border. Just spare the people here.”
